Xiang Yang stood like Mount Tai, unmoving, grinding his back molars.
"Are you already living with that man?"
Chen Jiaojiao froze for two seconds before realizing who he was referring to. She managed an awkward smile.
"Yes, we're living together. He'll be unhappy if I come back too late, so please let me go quickly."
He'll be unhappy, hmph!
Xiang Yang let out a cold laugh. He suddenly reached out, grabbed Chen Jiaojiao's chin, lowered his head, forced her to look up, and ground his lips against hers twice.
"Do you care about him that much?"
This kid, he used to be such a puppy, and now he dares...
Chen Jiaojiao was both ashamed and indignant, and she tried hard to pry his hands off.
"Are you sick? Did drinking two bottles of alcohol make you forget who you are? Let me go, don't force me to get angry with you!"
"Get angry then, it's not the first time you've gotten angry with me anyway."
"What do you mean? Xiang Yang, are you going to go crazy all the way today?"
"That's right, I miss you so much I'm going crazy. As soon as I heard Sister Man say you were at the hospital, I rushed here without a second thought."
"You were my first love, the first woman I truly gave my heart to, and this is how you treat me? Chen Jiaojiao, I'm not reconciled! It's just about money, isn't it? How much do you want, and I'll earn it for you. Break up with that person!"
Chen Jiaojiao, "..."
Xiang Yang said he missed her and rushed here as soon as he heard about her.
She felt genuinely happy.
To be honest, hadn't she missed him too?
She had only been in two relationships so far. The first was with Hu Jiasheng, where they spent little time together and she was ultimately betrayed.
With Xiang Yang, although they were the same age, he doted on her like a little sister.
Although they were only together for a short half-year, every day was truly happy.
Chen Jiaojiao had truly fantasized about being able to continue like this, for a very, very long time.
The abrupt end to their relationship caused the greatest pain. She, who had never suffered from insomnia, now relied on sleeping pills almost every night to fall asleep.
Seeing everyone around her paired up, didn't she also long for a warm embrace?
But the current situation was her own doing.
The positions between him and Xiang Yang were too awkward, and she really didn't know how to continue.
"It's not about money, it's that you're too immature and can't bear the responsibility of an adult man. I don't want to waste my time on you."
Besides lying, she had no other way to provoke him with hurtful words.
When they were together, Chen Jiaojiao had clearly shown how much she liked him, yet she could break up with him so easily and show disdain just as readily. Xiang Yang couldn't understand it and couldn't accept it.
"I'm immature? I can't bear responsibility? Then why didn't you think of these things when you chose to be with me? Who is the one who is irresponsible?"
Chen Jiaojiao admitted that she had turned him from a boy into a man and then cruelly abandoned him, and she felt guilty.
But this was not the time to discuss these things. People were coming and going outside, and if someone saw them, it would be utterly humiliating.
"I'm sorry, it's all my fault. That's why I realized my mistake in time and let you go in time, which can be considered cutting my losses. Let's not talk anymore, there are people outside, what if someone overhears..."
"I'm not afraid!"
Xiang Yang refused to let her go, giving the impression that if Chen Jiaojiao didn't reconcile with him today, he would never give up.
Chen Jiaojiao lost the battle of wills to him, to an enraged man.
But she refused to concede verbally, "Look, you still don't admit you're immature. You're about to become an idol. If someone sees this, it will be a stain on you that will never be erased."
Xiang Yang didn't listen to her at all.
"Stop lecturing me. I'm not here to listen to your reasoning. You can leave if you want, Chen Jiaojiao, but I'm giving you two choices now."
"One, reconcile with me. From now on, all the money I earn will be yours, and besides me, you're not allowed to speak to any other man."
"Two, spend one last time with me. For the next 11 hours, you are mine. After 11 hours, we will never see each other again."
Chen Jiaojiao was almost driven to laughter by him.
Why should she have to choose one of the two paths he presented?
Relationships between men and women were supposed to be consensual. If she didn't want to continue, she didn't have to. Why should she still be dictated to by him?
If it were someone else, she would have retorted, but it was Xiang Yang. Chen Jiaojiao felt guilty towards him and, truthfully, hadn't let go of him in her heart. Their last breakup had been too hasty; this time, it could serve as a perfect conclusion.
"You said it, after tonight, we'll never see each other again."
Xiang Yang said no more. He opened the door, pulled her by the wrist, and strode out of the food stall.
Both of them had been drinking, so they couldn't drive. Xiang Yang flagged down a taxi by the roadside, found a four-star hotel at random, checked in, and they went upstairs together.
Familiar with the routine, he started their usual process.
Sister Man waited and waited at the food stall. When she didn't see them return, she called Xiang Yang.
His phone lay beside the pillow, buzzing incessantly. Xiang Yang seemed not to hear it. Chen Jiaojiao, disturbed by the noise, picked it up for him.
"You answer it first."
Xiang Yang readily picked it up, but deliberately applied pressure while doing so.
Chen Jiaojiao hadn't expected him to do this and couldn't help but let out a gasp.
Sister Man on the other end immediately felt awkward.
"You now... you and Chen Jiaojiao... who are you with... You really are something, Xiang Yang!"
After hanging up, Chen Jiaojiao pounded Xiang Yang fiercely, saying he had learned bad habits after a few days in the training camp.
Xiang Yang teased her, "Didn't you say he'd be unhappy if you didn't go back? Why hasn't he called you by now? Does he have more than one girlfriend?"
"It's none of your business, what does it have to do with you?"
Xiang Yang looked at her and sneered, "Chen Jiaojiao, you have no other skills besides bullying me. I was foolish before and let you bully me, but now I've really learned to be bad and I'm not so foolish anymore."
Chen Jiaojiao's scalp tingled from his laughter, "What do you want?"
"I regret it. I don't want to give you a second choice anymore. Since you're so afraid of him getting angry, I'll deliberately make him angry. Whatever you don't like me doing, I'll do it."
"I want to wait for him to come looking for you. I want to see what kind of man can make you, Chen Jiaojiao, bow down and submit."
Chen Jiaojiao was furious and pushed him hard, but how could she match Xiang Yang?
Her hands, feet, and mouth were soon restrained. The 11 hours were agonizing.
Even so, the next morning, she struggled to get up. "Time's up, you should go back. Let me go."
Xiang Yang held her with his iron arms, "Am I the one with amnesia or are you? I said I regret it."
"You regret it just because you say so? Why should I listen to you? We don't have any legal relationship!"
"You dislike that we don't have a legal relationship? I can make it happen now."
Who said that?
Chen Jiaojiao gritted her teeth and reached out to hit him.
But she had no strength.
She knew she had provoked Xiang Yang. Young, hot-blooded boys were not to be trifled with, so she could only soften her stance.